How Did the Military Drone End Up on a Beach in Sozopol?

A military drone washed ashore this morning, August 12, on the beach in Sozopol. It was discovered by a woman, who alerted the emergency number 112.

The unmanned aerial vehicle is of an unfamiliar model, and it has not been determined whether it has a combat part.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the broken wings and the shells attached to its body suggest that the drone had been in the water for several months.

By midday, the aircraft was destroyed in a controlled detonation carried out by a specialised team from the Naval Forces.

• Military drone washed up on a beach in Sozopol (PHOTOS)

Early this morning, Stanislava spotted the drone in the sea while exercising on the beach.

“I saw that it wasn’t a toy, and then I simply decided to pull it out so that nothing would happen in the sea—without really thinking whether it could be dangerous or anything like that,” said Stanislava Georgieva, a beachgoer.

She reported it to 112, and the area was cordoned off. Tourists were moved to a safe distance.

“It’s perfectly normal. There’s a foreign drone, and no one knows where it came from. After all, people are looking out for the safety of the beachgoers, and it’s normal to be asked to leave. God forbid there’s a bomb on it,” commented Iliyan Zagorchev, a tourist.

“What’s worrying is that drones are washing up along our Black Sea coast. I don’t know if it’s related to the war,” added Lyudmila Noveva, another tourist.

“It’s not surprising, considering there’s a war going on so close by,” said Emil, also a tourist.

The origin of the drone remains unclear. It is suspected that it may be either Ukrainian or Russian. By midday, it had been destroyed by explosive ordnance disposal experts from the Naval Base in Burgas.

This is not the first case of such devices being found in Bulgaria.

In July this year, an unmanned propeller-driven aircraft crashed near Varna Airport, and in September 2023, a military drone fitted with a mine was neutralised on the cliffs near Tyulenovo.

It remains a mystery how the machine reached one of the central beaches of the resort town.